MH17: Aviation safety expert John Goglia says airlines must 'look long and hard' at areas of unrest such as Ukraine, Pakistan before flying over them

ABC News

Qantas says it still considers its flight path over Iraq to be safe, as world aviation officials prepare to hold an emergency meeting in Canada to discuss the risks of commercial airlines flying over war zones.

Top officials from the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation, as well as groups that represent the world's air carriers, airports and air navigation service providers will attend tomorrow's meeting, which comes in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.

The gathering in Montreal is also in response to growing public anger over how countries make case-by-case decisions to restrict commercial aircraft from flying over war zones.

Overnight, Emirates announced it would divert its flights from Iraqi airspace because of the insurgency by Islamic State militants on the ground.

Qantas has issued a statement saying it still considers flying over Iraq safe due to the cruising altitude its planes maintain.

"There are no warnings on the flight levels that Qantas currently uses over Iraq, which are flown by multiple airlines. Our average flight level over this space is around 38,000 feet to 41,000 feet," the statement said.

"There is no suggestion that flying over Iraq is unsafe for commercial airlines, particularly given the cruising altitude that most, including Qantas, maintain."

'More difficult' for airlines to assess security over conflicts

However, former head of safety at Qantas, Ron Bartsch, called the shooting down of MH17 "a game-changer".

"It just indicates the extent to which airlines must be vigilant as to emerging risk," he said.

There is a growing opinion that airlines themselves should not be left with the job of determining the security of territory over which they fly.

Mr Bartsch hopes the Montreal meeting can come up with a system of travel advisories that can be shared by all commercial carriers and their prospective passengers, so that informed decisions can be made about the relative merits of shorter and cheaper routes that might pass over more volatile regions.

In Qantas on a daily basis, they assess risk associated with all aspects of their operations and security is one of the areas which Qantas has got a lot of personnel

Ron Bartsch

"It's more difficult for airlines to make an assessment, an accurate assessment, of the risk as opposed to making an assessment, for example, of meteorological phenomena such as cyclones, or whatever, because of more sophisticated airborne and ground-based equipment that can detect inclement meteorological conditions," he said.

"It's a different ball game altogether when you've got issues relating to national security. And I think where there's been a reluctance in [the] past to share information, some of this information has been gained through the country's intelligence network."

Mr Bartsch said that some carriers might be privy to information that has been provided to them by the nation state that they operate within, information which may not necessarily be provided to their competitors.

"In Qantas on a daily basis, they assess risk associated with all aspects of their operations and security is one of the areas which Qantas has got a lot of personnel," he said.

"And they obviously have very good contacts with government departments, government officials, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and they can get accurate information.

"But that may not be the case with other countries where they may have either less intelligence or less sophisticated safety management systems."

Call for governments to step up and provide information

Aviation safety expert and former US National Transport Safety board member John Goglia says existing regulations need an overhaul and the Government needs to play a greater role in advising airlines on safe flight corridors now that some terrorist groups have access to long-range missiles.

"There does need to be a single entity to keep everyone advised and it really needs to be governments because some of the information is provided ... by interesting sources," Mr Goglia said.

"Sometimes there's assets on the ground. The intelligence community would not want to give up all the information and all the sources of their information, so it gets to be quite a challenge for everybody involved to make sure you have accurate information.

They have to discuss how much wiggle room they are going to allow around an area that's under conflict now that it seems terrorist organisations have access to some pretty high-tech weapons.

Aviation safety expert John Goglia

"They have to discuss how much wiggle room they are going to allow around an area that's under conflict now that it seems terrorist organisations have access to some pretty high-tech weapons.

"Up to this point, the world community that has these missiles capable of reaching up to 30,000 feet ... has not been in the hands of the terrorist organisations and the countries who have had these have kept very tight control of them, until now."

Mr Goglia says the international aviation community will need to rethink its approach to how it handles flying over war zones.

"Governments are going to have to step up to the plate and provide information to the airlines and I'm sure that's going to be one of the subjects that's discussed ... by the international community," he said.

He said governments may be aware of information that the aviation authorities are not familiar with and therefore a single entity responsible for providing information should be considered.

"We need to bridge that gap. But the current situation is fundamentally flawed and left to discretion too much in order to save time and money and fuel expenses," he said.

"Now we're going to have to decide weather they want their planes flying through these areas."

Mr Goglia says this will lead to a particularly difficult scenario for airlines needing to fly into the Middle East where much of the terrorist activity is occurring.

"This region is growing more and more important as the economic power of the region increases."